Life on The Highway
by lNightWriterl
Summary: After Nora and Danny's death, both Miles and Charlie had been understandably distraught. Cue a car, confused 21 year old girl, stressed Uncle, newly found power, and an 17 year old memory that leads to an epic battle between the Mathesons and a parking lot.


**Hey guys (: So this is another one of those stories where I had a sudden inspiration out of a middle of nowhere...Thus, this result. I actually had half of it written awhile ago, but then just sort of stopped...Nevertheless it is finished now (: One this about this little fic though is that I'm not for sure if it is set in the right time frame. My mind from season one is a little fuzzy, so this is set (well the second part is set) right after Monroe turned on the power, but when Jason, Charlie, and everyone were still together...I honestly can't remember for the life of me if there was a situation where the power was on with Charlie, Jason, Rachel, Miles, and the whole crew together after Nora died... So this could be AU. I really just can't pull it out of my head now...**

**Either way, this TV show does not belong to me but to Eric Kripke! Who is an amazing person and I wish I could be half as awesome as he is! **

* * *

**Life on The Highway**

Big, round, glossy, and the purest blue you could imagine. They were lit up with pure delight as she looked at the bowl of ice cream laid out in front of her, Rachel smiling as she rubbed her rapidly swelling stomach. From behind the counter, Ben grinned at him as he walked through the door, but Miles quickly put a finger to his lips and pointed to his unsuspecting victim.

Three…

Two…

One.

Launching forward, Miles grabbed his niece out of the chair and spun her around, smirking when she shrieked with laughter.

"Uncle Mi! Uncle Mi!" she giggled and wrapped two tiny arms around in attempt to hug him.

"You remember me?" he asked, somewhat surprised that she remembered his visit a little over a year ago. At his question she nodded solemnly.

"You brought me a lollipop." She told him in such a way, that it made him sound like he had done her an outrageous sign of kindness.

"That's right pretty girl." He told her, tapping his finger against her nose. She gave a small laugh and mimicked the movement on him.

Charlotte Matheson. Probably one of the most important girls in Miles' life right now. She was only four, but he felt as though he'd known her forever. He looked over at his brother who was watching them with some sort of amusement.

Putting down his niece, he walked over and smiled at him and his wife.

"Miss me?" he asked lightly and Ben snorted, taking up Charlie's abandoned bowl of ice cream.

"Not really." He shrugged. "It is kind of nice having things quiet for a change." And as if to add irony to the words, there was a loud yell as Charlie bounded her way down the stairs, chasing after a small ball that was bouncing wildly around the room.

"Yep." Miles agreed, clapping his older sibling on the back "You got the quiet life all figured out."

"Uncle Mi?" came a small voice and Miles turned back to the little girl who was looking at him with wide eyes, messing with her princess shirt.

"Yeah?" he asked suddenly feeling a bit nervous. The kid looked as though she was about to confess murder.

"Is that _your _pretty car?" she asked and Miles peered at the window and chuckled in approval. She was only four and already had good taste in cars. He couldn't wait to see what car she picked out for her sixteenth birthday- Hell, he might even get it for her.

He had only just gotten his beautiful mustang, and although it wasn't really his, he was just borrowing it from Bass, but he still loved it. It was fast, sleek, fast, bright blue, and really freaking fast.

"It is." He told her proudly and Charlie gave a glance at it longingly.

"Wow." She said and gave her Uncle a questioning glance. Miles let a small smile play on his lips as he passed on the same look to Ben who was already shaking his head.

"No way Miles." He sighed and he could hear the sound of Charlie's depressed sigh.

"Come on Benny." He tried "I won't go too far…Or too fast. I won't let anything happen to her. Promise." He vowed and the older man fixed him with a look the younger Matheson had become accustomed to over the years, with Ben always being the responsible one of the two, it wasn't all that surprising.

"Please?" he added hastily, wondering why on earth he always had to sound like a kid around his older brother. They were both adults by this point.

"Don't go on the highway." Ben finally relented, looking at his daughter worriedly "And make sure she wears her seatbelt."

"Thank you Daddy!" Charlie gasped, clinging herself onto her father's stomach "I'll be good I promise!" she added and took a hold of Miles hand to drag him out the door.

"And for the love of God Miles, I swear if I hear you turn up that damn radio-!" Ben yelled as he was pulled out the door.

"Relax!" he called back and waited until his brother was safely inside before sneaking Charlie up to the front seat and clicking her seatbelt in place.

"Don't tell your Dad I let you ride up here ok?" he whispered to the four year old her put her hand over her mouth in understanding. "Attagirl." He said, pulling a pigtail.

They had made it about three miles up the rode when Charlie had talked him into throwing all of the regulations out the window. Miles swore that he wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for the little girl's persuasive techniques- AKA batting her eyes at him and saying please.

They were heading out on the highway- going about 80 miles per hour, with the stereo blasting. Charlie was laughing the whole time, sticking her head out the window to feel the wind in her hair ever so often and dancing along with the music.

Eventually, the song changed and Miles turned it up even higher, singing along this time. He glanced over at his niece who was giving him a look of wonder as she listened to the sound of his voice, as if trying to store the memory somewhere in her brain.

"Hey Uncle Miles?" she asked as they were now heading home (the stereo off and speed down to about 20).

"Yeah?"

"When I'm all grown and stuff, can you teach me how to drive?" Charlie looked up at him.

"Sure." He shrugged and she clapped enthusiastically.

"Can you teach me in a pretty car like this one?" she pushed "Except I want mine green." She said.

"Green huh? I thought you liked pink."

"Pink is pretty." She assented "but I like green the best. That's mommy's favorite color you know, and that's what we're going to paint Danny's room."

Ah, Danny. His nephew who was to be born any day. He gave his niece a sideways look, wondering vaguely if Ben had looked this excited right before he was born.

"Green is like the trees." Charlie continued "and grass…I wish I could live outside." She sighed dreamily before frowning "but then I wouldn't get to watch Blue's Clues on TV if I'm outside." Miles could see the little drama building up in her head, TV versus nature. No doubt technology would win. It always seems to now.

The rest of the ride consisted with Charlie continuing to debate whether she wanted to live inside or outside and her sliding into the back seat before her father saw she was sitting up front. When all was said and done they pulled up, got out, said hi to everyone, and got ready for supper…Ben none the wiser.

"Thank you for the ride in your pretty car Uncle Miles." Charlie smiled shyly as they made their way to the dining room.

"No problem kiddo." He told her with a slight nudge "Pretty soon you'll be driving me around."

"Really?" her eyes lit up "Why would I have to drive _you_ around? Will you be too old to see or something?" she asked and Miles tipped his head back to laugh, promising himself to make it to her sixteenth birthday with a bright green Mustang.

* * *

***Present Day***

Miles looked from the car across from them to Charlie, then back to the car once more.

It had been days since they left the tower and were back on the run. Nora was dead and well… No one was dealing with it very well, least of all Miles. If asked, he would say he was fine, hinting quite coldly to let the matter drop. Now.

Charlie refused to speak at all.

It was obvious she was blaming her mother for letting Nora die. The irony of the situation was not lost on any of them. Charlie's mother figure Maggie had died early on and the next promising older sister model was now gone as well. And now her real Mother was here, but it was quite clear she would never live up to either woman's legends. Especially to Charlie.

So with the two Mathesons in similar mourning, Miles decided he would try to find something to cheer his niece up. She had been through too much lately and she needed to have some time to…Well…Act her age.

Which was a bit tricky, because when Miles was twenty-one he was drinking, partying, and God knows what other crazy shit. Now, with him being the responsible one (it still felt so weird to think of it that way), he knew he couldn't exactly promote that kind of behavior…Nor did he exactly want to see his niece high off her ass on drugs or anything.

Which left him musing over the old Sudan in the corner of the parking lot…

"Um…Miles? You okay?" Charlie asked with slight suspicion as her Uncle gave the vehicle another look before turning his gaze back onto her.

"Come on." He told her, suddenly moving ahead quickly so that Charlie had to stumble forward to keep up.

"What are we doing?" she asked and blinked when Miles opened the side to the car and started messing around with the wires. "Correction. What are _you_ doing?" she tried, completely at loss of what was going on. Out of nowhere there was a sudden growl of what must have been the engine and Charlie jumped, pointing her gun towards it.

"Hey! No. Point that thing _away_ from the car…It didn't do anything to you." Her uncle grumbled, looking appalled that she dare threaten the Sudan. Frowning, she lowered her weapon, but still gave the thing a dirty look for startling her.

"So…Are we going somewhere?" she asked "And how did you start that thing? I thought you had to have little…keys to work them."

Snorting, Miles stood back up as he checked the car for any signs of immediate dangers and gave his niece a somewhat amused look hidden underneath exasperation.

"I hotwired it." He answered her "So that you don't need the keys, and we are going around the parking lot."

"It isn't that far to walk…"

"Really? We could walk across the parking lot?" Miles shot back sarcastically "You don't say?" he asked and watched as she bitch faced at him. "Come on." He said, rolling his eyes and Charlie slowly made her way to the passenger's side. "Wrong way." He called and watched as his niece's face flashed with confusion.

"Wrong way? What are you-?" she started before cutting herself off abruptly and letting her jaw slack at him as he gestured towards the driver's seat. "I don't know how…" she objected and Miles walked around to give her a push.

"Well lucky for you I happen to be a man of knowledge." He yawned and threw himself into the passenger's seat. Driving had been second nature to him back when the power was on, surely it shouldn't take too long for Charlie to learn how to drive a few circles, right?

His hope had dwindled slightly when she stared at the seat belt, looking utterly bewildered. On the helicopter they had ridden in, the straps just went straight across their laps. The diagonal piece of cloth seemed to totally throw her off.

Never the less, she didn't ask for help, instead slowly attempting to take it and click it into place, the whole thing becoming a tangled mess. Trying not to comment on the situation, Miles instead just silently put his own into place, making sure Charlie was looking so she knew how it was done.

They got there…Eventually.

"Okay… So you're going to use your right foot to press on the gas and brake. Left pedal is your brake, right is the gas. With me so far?"

"So this one makes it go?"

"Yeah…Ah! Don't press it yet!" Miles jumped when the whole thing jolted forward and Charlie slammed on the brakes in alarm that it actually moved.

"Sorry!" she squeaked and Miles nodded to himself. They just had to get past this part and they would all be fine…

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, so you steer with the steering wheel-"

"The round thing, here?"

"Yes that round thing! How many other wheels are there?"

"Uh…I saw four on the outside."

"You mean the tires?"

"They're wheels! So that means they could have been steering wheels." His niece deduced logically and Miles decided to let the argument drop, not in the mood to point out the flaws in her logic.

"So just very…._Very_ carefully put your foot on the gas and…CHRIST!"

The car had once again jolted forward, darting towards a field of bushes before Charlie hit the brakes, nearly sending Miles through the windshield.

"I thought I said carefully?!"

"I did!"

"Not according to those plants you ran over!" Miles hissed and tried to slow his heart rate down. Sure, put him in front of a group of people who want to kill him he'd laugh and ask for brandy. Put him with a new driver in a car? He'd still ask for that brandy, but for a whole different reason.

"Are we stuck?" Charlie asked worriedly, looking at the vegetation surrounding their windows.

"No…You're going to have to reverse though. Change the shift."

"What? The shift?" she cried out, looking around the car for possible candidates of what the shift could be.

"This thing." Miles tapped the stick in the middle of the car. "Put it to 'R'." he said and watched as she used both hands to yank it back. Jesus…This was harder than he thought it would be.

"Now what?"

"Press the gas. _Gently_ this time." He told her and the car began to move back. Seeing his niece's hands move further down the wheel, Miles tapped her arm.

"Move them up." He instructed and Charlie frowned, but did so. "Good. Now turn hard right and put it back into drive." He said and grinned when she did without jolting the car. See? It just took a couple of tries. Relaxing now, Miles hit the power button, deciding some music would both do them some good.

Probably should have warned her that sound was going to start blaring out of the speakers…

_SCREECH!_

The car swerved side to side in panic and Miles let out an undignified yelp as he tried to jerk them back on track, where Charlie had once again slammed onto the brakes.

"Charlie!"

"That thing started screaming at me!"

"I'm going to start screaming at you!" he yelled back and immediately regretted it when he saw the look that passed over Charlie's face.

You should never tick off the person who is literally driving your life around.

"Miles?"

"What?"

"Remember when I said the parking lot wasn't that far? I was wrong." She grumbled and Miles nodded in agreement. Who would have thought the concrete square would have been such a challenge to get across.

"We're only halfway…" he sighed and looked up to see Charlie's mouth twitching.

"Only? I think halfway is pretty good."

She would be a 'glass half full' kind of person, wouldn't she? Glaring, Miles leaned back into his seat, this time keeping a firm grip of both of the armrests, determined not to fly out the car. Thinking back to when Charlie was four, Miles considered himself lucky he never had the chance to spoil her with that mustang. Lord knows if he had tried to teach her anything in a sports car they would both be dead by now.

"Shut up and drive." He mumbled to her and Charlie looked forward at the road with a newfound determination and slowly began to move the car forward again. It wasn't terrible aside from the fact they were going about two miles per an hour. In fact, the speed mixed in with Charlie's firm expression made the whole thing a bit amusing.

"Don't strain yourself." He smirked and heard an exasperated sigh.

"I'm trying over here."

"You can press down a little harder you know."

"You said not to! Make up your mind!" she ground out with frustration and Miles couldn't help but grin at the tone, his eyes falling back onto the road only to be startled again when a figure moved towards them.

Quickly turning the car, Charlie jerked away to avoid the person who had stupidly emerged, smoothly sailing the thing into the nearest tree. Airbags deployed and Charlie let out a cry of shock, plunging her knife into it on instinct and Miles tried to look threateningly over the airbags towards the idiot who had gotten in her way.

"I would have hit him." He said dryly as Jason ran to jerk open the door and pull Charlie out as though he was expecting the whole thing to explode. Grumbling, the older man pushed his way out, making sure to give Pretty Boy a ruthless look. "I know the training hasn't had the same quality since I left the Militia but… Did they really teach you to go _towards_ big, moving hunks of metal?" he asked and Jason made a face as Charlie hid a smile.

"I-"

"Don't want to hear it. I mean, I don't mind if you want to get hit by a car or anything…In fact, I can easily arrange it for you, but next time, do it when she _isn't_ driving." He said gesturing to his niece "Because unlike me, she would rather hit a poor, defenseless tree than you."

"Miles-" Charlie started, but he held up a hand to cut her off.

"Nope. I just need some whiskey. Maybe three after _that_ ride." He added under his breath as stalked away, leaving the two kids to themselves. Good God they were annoying… Maybe he should consider himself lucky that Charlie didn't act her age all that much. It gave him less worry about. Like, if she were some love stricken idiot like that Neville kid then…

Wait a second.

Groaning, Miles circled back around to collect Charlie because under no circumstance would he leave his twenty-one year old niece alone, with only Jason Neville for company and a car. He knew the combination of kids and a car well, and he really didn't need to get gray hairs over the drama of what would happen if she got a kid with a Militia brat.

The quantity of alcohol was now going up to four glasses, courtesy of Jason Neville and his filthy little mind. Next time he took Charlie driving, he was totally going to use that guy for target practice.

On the bright side, Miles was pretty sure he had found a new way to scare off enemies. If all the new recruits were that bad in cars, they may not even need to learn how to fight.

If only Ben could see them now…

* * *

**Well...That's it. I've always been a sucker for Miles/Charlie's family sort of bond. It has always been so sweet and endearing for me. I also was a huge Jarlie fan but...Lately I couldn't help but notice I'm loving the Bass/Charlie action. I know he's way too old for her, but for some reason that whole relationship is really appealing to me... Not that I don't love Jason. That last episode with him in that camp and all amped up on drugs? Awesome! I'm excited about next week's...Kind of. Aaron is super sweet and all, but I kind of lose a little interest in his parts of the show... Oh well, we are probably going to see him blow some things up, so it is all okay. Well that's it! Thank you all for reading (:**


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